Badminton legend Prakash Padukone was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement award at the Sportstar Aces awards ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday, 14 February, where Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Smriti Mandhana emerged as the big winners in the cricket category.
The awards, which had been a constant fixture from 1994 to 2003, were re-instituted to mark the 40th anniversary of Sportstar – among the first regularly-published sport magazines in India.
Padukone, the first Indian shuttler to be ranked number one in the world, and also India’s first champion at the prestigious All England Championships in 1980, was presented with his award by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who confessed that feting Padukone on stage was an “absolute fanboy moment” for him.
Present captain Kohli, along with bowling sensation Bumrah, were joint-winners in the Sportsman of the Year (Cricket) category, while Mandhana – the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for 2018 – was named Sportswoman of the Year (Cricket).
Cheteshwar Pujara, the Man of the Series in India’s historic Test triumph in Australia, was handed the Chairman’s Choice Award.
The honours for the ‘Other Team Sports’ category were received by men’s football captain and record goalscorer Sunil Chhetri and women’s hockey player and star drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur.
PV Sindhu, Manika Batra, A Sharath Kamal, MC Mary Kom, Bajrang Punia, Neeraj Chopra, Hima Das, KP Aravind, Manu Bhaker, Saurabh Chaudhary and Deepa Malik were among other awardees at the ceremony.
The awards jury consisted of Gavaskar, MM Somaiya, Anju Bobby George, Anjali Bhgawat and journalist N Ram, and pioneers of Indian sport such as Viswanathan Anand, Gagan Narang and Mithali Raj graced the event.
Sportstar Aces: Full List of Award Winners
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Prakash Padukone
- Chairman’s Choice Special Recognition Award: Cheteshwar Pujara
- Sportsman of the Year (Cricket): Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah
- Sportswoman of the Year (Cricket): Smriti Mandhana
- Sportsman of the Year (Other Team Sport): Sunil Chhetri
- Sportswoman of the Year (Other Team Sport): Gurjit Kaur
- Sportsman of the Year (Racquet Sport): A Sharath Kamal
- Sportswoman of the Year (Racquet Sport): PV Sindhu and Manika Batra
- Sportsman of the Year (Other Individual Sport): Bajrang Punia
- Sportswoman of the Year (Other Individual Sport): MC Mary Kom
- Sportsman of the Year (Olympic Sport): Neeraj Chopra
- Sportswoman of the Year (Olympic Sport): Hima Das
- Sportsperson of the Year (Motorsport): KP Aravind
- Young Athlete of the Year (Male): Saurabh Chaudhary
- Young Athlete of the Year (Female): Manu Bhaker
- Para-Athlete Sportsman of the Year: Manoj Sarkar and Suyash Jadhav
- Para-Athlete Sportswoman of the Year: Deepa Malik
- Team of the Year: Vidarbha Cricket Team
- Coach of the Year: Massimo Costantini (Table Tennis)
- Best State for Promotion of Sports: Odisha
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